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Album Review

Blood Letting

If there are two things that Austin’s metal/punk outfit, Blurry Vision, want to get across, it’s that 1) they’re fed up; 2) they couldn’t care less what you think. The three piece are artists who have lost all regard for the impression left on the canvas that is the music listener with Bloodletting, wielding an ideological approach guaranteed to make you hate yourself for not listening to more acts that haven’t lost passionate reason for striking a chord.

“Sisyphus” opens the offering with a shelled nut of what to expect for the next 30 minutes. A driving d-beat and low heavy guitar and vocal rhythms reminiscent of New Lows’ Harvest of the Carcass harass the listener as Blum aligns the Greek myth with wasting away into isolation.

There is something to be said about opting out of adding parts to a recording that can’t be recreated live. Where most lone-guitared bands take the opportunity to add production, Blum has chosen only to emphasize his first point. And the honesty of such an approach often goes unnoticed. However, Blurry Vision doesn’t seem into the idea of being something they’re not.

Whether he wants to admit it or not, Blum has developed a modus operandi over the course of his musicianship. From Newlywed to Blurry Vision, the guitarist has had a knack for moving songs along with guitar parts that are as fitting as they are weird. Think a more metal version of a guitar riff from The Jonbenet. These parts allow the other musicians to groove away and showcase their talents. A perfect example of this is in “Jacob’s Broken Ladder.”

Blurry Vision has dug itself into a hole that could turn them into one of those bands that feed on existing for 30 minutes at a time on stage. And while they may not be brought up in a discussion of local (or national) heavy acts, one run through Bloodletting should have their name on the tip of your tongue…if they don’t cut the damn thing out first.